Lost: Some Series Finale Questions and (We Think) Answers

Published: May 24, 2010

We’ve been getting a whole lot of questions and comments about the Lost finale. So, we’ve put together some answers based on what we saw and can put together. Some it is conjecture since we don’t have absolute answers to some of the questions but they seem to make sense based on what we do know.

Did the characters all die in the plane crash of Oceanic 815?
No. Their story on the island really happened in their lives — from when Jack opened his eyes in the pilot until he closed them in the finale. The part that didn’t happen in the real world was the so-called flash-sideways that we started seeing in season six.

What was the “flash-sideways”?
Christian Shephard tells his son that it was created by the group as a way to find each other once they’d all died and were ready to move on. These people were all connected and experienced the most important time in their lives together. It seems like a purgatory where they could also work out their issues. Jack worked out his daddy issues via his son (who wasn’t real). Christian also tells Jack, “Everyone dies sometime,” and that some of the people died before he did and some died long afterwards.

Would you have skipped the afterlife aspect?

Why wasn’t Gin and Sun’s child in the church?
Probably because she ultimately didn’t have a big connection to her parents. She never met Jin and Sun left and died when she was very young.

Why wasn’t Walt in the church?
Presumably because the island didn’t play a big impact in his life as a whole. He was only there for a few months as a child.

Why wasn’t Miles in the church?
He seemed to have a good relationship with his dad and perhaps wanted to spend more time with him because he didn’t get to in life.

Why wasn’t Daniel in the church?
Desmond told his mother that it wasn’t time for him yet. She seemed relieved and likely wanted to spend more time with him. Daniel had also just connected with Charlotte.

Why didn’t Ben go into the church?
He said that he wasn’t ready yet and still had some things to work out. He did do some good stuff but had killed a lot of people. We know by his conversation with Hurley that he played his role as #2, the “new Richard,” very well.

What happened to Michael?
As we saw in a previous episode, his spirit is still on the island, whispering with the other bad people. Sad.

Did the plane with Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Claire, Lapidus, and Richard crash?
No reason to think it did. The plane wreckage we saw with the final credits is what was left from the original crash. It’s very rusty and in the same place on the beach. Turns out ABC added the final credits images.

Did Desmond get off the island?
Hurley asks Ben to help him get Desmond get home. One would assume they did, though the exact “how” isn’t clear.

How was Kate able to kill fake Locke?
When Desmond pulled the stone cork, it seemed that the island’s power was turned off. The island was being destroyed and both Jack (as the new Jacob) and fake Locke could hurt one another and be killed. When Jack replaced the stone cork, the island power was restored.

Why did the producers do the afterlife ending?
Only they know for sure. Other than it being an interesting storytelling device, it was perhaps the only possible way to give any kind of happy ending to most of these characters. Without it, we wouldn’t have seen characters like Boone, Jin, Sun, Libby, or Sayid after their deaths. We’d just be left with a handful of survivors who survived the brutal island experience. It seemed like most people were hoping for some kind of happy ending for the characters and that’s what we got.

What do you think? Would you have preferred to have an ending where only a few survived and just ended with Jack’s death?

The saying, ‘it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts’ could never be so true in the case of Lost’s series and the finale. I myself wasn’t thrilled with the ending but my expectations were so high I new the show could never live up to it. I sort of expected to be a bit disappointed. Having said that I would give my time again for another 6 years to watch a show that brought such unexpected story lines, epic cinematography and of course, brilliant acting! Mathew Fox started off (and ended) as the star of the show but the other actors’ skills were so adept that over the years we forgot that the show was about ‘Jack’. Brilliant. I will miss this show and truly, I didn’t care about the ending of the last show as much as I cared about the journey of the last show as a whole.
This was Abrams et al, baby and he/they can and did do with it as they like. We don’t HAVE to like it. I suspect that many of the negative reviewers opinions on the final show weren’t truly invested in it as a whole. I know SO MANY people who gave up after the first few years and tuned in for this show, only to not ‘get it’. Those who were patient and watched all six seasons, well we had a hard time ‘getting it’ too! So it’s no wonder! It doesn’t mean it’s bad.
And THAT is the brilliance of the show: It has made us all think hard about what just happened; no fade to black, no dream.
I. LOVED. IT. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So does baby Aaron being there mean he died sometime later in Life. It would have been could to know what happen to the female cop that help Desmond and them get away, she was killed right, so why wasn’t she in the church? Why wasn’t the cop that tried to lock Kate up in the hospital. I would love to know how Kate died and Clarie.

@William: Why Aaron was there as a baby is a little confusing but probably would have been more confusing if he was there as an adult. Anna Lucia was the cop that helped Desmond and was killed by Michael on the island (with Libby). In the previous episode, Hurley asked Desmond about her and he said that she wasn’t ready yet. The other cop didn’t have a strong connection to the group.w

I thought that the Lost Finale overall was AMAZING! I don’t think the writers purpose was to clear up every fact of the show, it is one of the shows that is left to many interpretations, you interpret anyway you want. Ultimately I think the purpose of Lost was to show us “Life”.. Life after death, Life in general, one must live life to the fullest and there is a potential for afterlife and there are consequences for your actions even after death.

I liked the ending, it was actually better than thought it was going to be. Everyone wants answers to stuff that happened seasons ago, that really does’nt matter anymore. Yeah, there is stuff that I would like to know, but they would probably only lead to more questions. To me the show was about Jack, not the island. That was just a place he ended up. Sure alot of weird stuff happened, that we don’t know all the answers to, but as Christian put it “the most important part of your life was with these people”. Not the island, the people. His interaction with them and how they impacted each others lives. We learned about love, hate, anger, deception, betrayal, and ultimately forgiveness and redemption. I think we should do as Jack did, let go and be at peace with it.

I felt betrayed by the writers. They couldn’t keep their story arcs straight and never answered so many burning questions. I could care less about the “spirituality” of it all, I wanted the who, what, where, when, why and what happened to them afterwards – Hardly any of which was resolved. We still don’t know what the island is and all that went on. I have so many questions that I’ll never get an answer to. It’s unfinished. Unresolved. It’s left me slightly bitter if one can (or should) feel thusly towards a TV Show. I was hoping for a more cerebral ending than the Jesus Loves Me ending we got. Basically, I thought it stunk.

Great answers!! Agree with them all. I also think Ben needs closure with his daughter and her mother. Plus he would want to be with her at the end. Personally I don’t think the baby should have been in the church. I guess baby Aaron was there to help with Charlie’s and Claire’s closure.

Why did penny do in the church????
what are the numbers?who transmitted them in the beginning?
why are the candidates were given the exact famous numbers?
kate’s black horse????
vaccine for the baby?the disease (the husband of Rousseau)
the side flashes were after the a-bomb? before?same time?
what did the dharma do there after all (why all the hatchs?)?why polar bears?why did the shark with dharma’s symbol appeared in the first scene of the 1 episode in the finale series?
the couple that died because of the spiders????????
what was ilana’s rule??to blow up?
why didn’t the black smoke kill all the “non candidates” right on the asap (rose and her husband?)?
p.s. didnn’t he tried to kill kate and the others at some point?
the children that were taken and were in “good hands” according to ben?
what happend to john legs with Boone? (and why did he do in the church?he was like 1 season…?)
what was the rule of the temple?

Why did penny do in the church – “Everyone dies sometime kiddo” Flash sideways had no “time” element. Some went before and others after. Penny died at SOME point, worked out her issues, so that she could move on with everyone.
what are the numbers?who transmitted them in the beginning? – Jacob’s numbers. Personally from the Lighthouse, I interpreted them as angles. Their numbers were angles on Jacob’s window to their lives.
why are the candidates were given the exact famous numbers? – Ultimately, Jacob realized who the final candidates were around the time of Dharma and influenced them to use the numbers for his enjoyment
kate’s black horse???? – ummmmmmm I don’t remember the reference
vaccine for the baby?the disease (the husband of Rousseau) – The inhabitants misinterpreted the island’s powers and thought the vaccine helped ward off the black smoke. Never was a disease, but they could not explain why they would find dead people…may never have seen the smoke monster but saw it’s destruction
the side flashes were after the a-bomb? before?same time? – Flash sideways was always there, but not until after the h-bomb did we see it…the writers wanted us to think it was an alternate reality and not an after-death experience
what did the dharma do there after all (why all the hatchs?)?why polar bears?why did the shark with dharma’s symbol appeared in the first scene of the 1 episode in the finale series? – they worked with the island’s powers in different ways, even having human experiments. The island was not safe to walk around outside. Hatches allowed safety to those to experiments on the island (again smoke monster). Polar bears…why not? They had a thing for them.
the couple that died because of the spiders???????? – rewatch that episode. All the answers are there
what was ilana’s rule??to blow up? – her role was for the candidates to realize they were candidates…she blew up because her role was done
why didn’t the black smoke kill all the “non candidates” right on the asap (rose and her husband?)? – he was once human…meaningless killing would be just that, meaningless. Only threats died from his hands
p.s. didnn’t he tried to kill kate and the others at some point? – he killed everyone in the Temple after he told them what would happen…Kate happened to be there and found refuge
the children that were taken and were in “good hands” according to ben? – temple was safest place on island, away from smokey and everyone else and all the violence that they were not a part of
what happend to john legs with Boone? (and why did he do in the church?he was like 1 season…?) – again “Everyone dies sometime kiddo”
what was the rule of the temple? – ????

Nice summary of the ending. I dont know if its because it was a really a long ending but a lot of people seem to have missed quite a few explanations that were given in the final episode. So thanks for putting them in the writing.

I suggest to one and all who feel confused to go ahead and rewatch the last 4 episodes including the finale and to watch the season 1to 5 recap before that, it should put most of the big questions to rest. There’s A LOT of info in all those episodes and it takes a while to digest. A cursory look won’t do. You actually have to sit down and concentrate for a few hours -lol

Why did penny do in the church????
what are the numbers?who transmitted them in the beginning?
why are the candidates were given the exact famous numbers?
kate’s black horse????
vaccine for the baby?the disease (the husband of Rousseau)
the side flashes were after the a-bomb? before?same time?
what did the dharma do there after all (why all the hatchs?)?why polar bears?why did the shark with dharma’s symbol appeared in the first scene of the 1 episode in the finale series?
the couple that died because of the spiders????????
what was ilana’s rule??to blow up?
why didn’t the black smoke kill all the “non candidates”?
the children that were taken and were in “good hands” according to ben?
what happend to john legs with Boone? (and why did he do in the church?he was like 1 season…?)
what was the rule of the temple?

1.penny was in the church because of the same reason everyone else was.
2.jacob just likes numbers and the numbers were the candidate numbers for the main characters
3.no real answer. but they are the main characters
4.the horse was the smoke monster
5.baby vaccine doesnt really matter? and the disease refrencing rousseaus husband was rousseau being crazy
6.the side-flashes seemed to be just a plot point and didnt happen because of the a bomb.
7.hatches were to study both the electro magnetism and human characteristics. polar bears turned the donkey wheel (thats why charlotte found the polar bear in tunisia)
8.the couple that died because of the spiders were written off the show due to poor fan reception
9.illana was seemingly written off the show
10.why did he have to?
11.they either died from the mortar rounds or ran into the woods in the words of sayid
12.the “island” took his leg strength because he was in some way responsible for boones death

Well, I only followed the show for awhile because in the very beginning I was actually “Lost” myself.

However, with all the endings such as Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, etc., this was the only one that even if you didn’t follow it, you had to watch the ending..no ands, ifs or buts (but I still feel “Lost”, at the end, but it was very emotional, the acting was superb, I was crying and screaming at the same time as it was the most complicated script that I have ever seen and more hours were put into the shows, themselves, explanations besides the finale, then a full length movie. I still don’t know all the answers, only the genious writers do, but they did a fantastic job bringing the show to an absolutely spiritual finale where you really needed those tissues! Bravo!

I hope you people realize this series was total crap – basically a 6 season-long Twilight Zone episode that Rod Serling could have completed in a half-hour episode. Some people have no lives and can waste time on this junk. And why is JJ Abrams so obsessed with parallel universes, anyway? Is he from one? Maybe that will be his next series!

The Twilight Zone still is a great show, and Rod Serling was possibly the best sci-fi writer ever, up until now. If Rod could have written a 6 year Twilight Zone episode I would have watched. The problem is, most writers couldn’t create a self contained idea that could span 6 years and still hold interest or excitement for viewers like Lost did, and that is quite a feat. Regardless of what people think of the ending, LOST broke new ground, and this phenomenon can never be repeated or duplicated. Anything from here on out would only be exploiting the blue-print that these writers established. And for the record, I don’t think JJ Abrams played a big role in this story, but maybe if Jason Priestly had been one of the survivors and Jacob gave him the power to stay in high school for 9 years that would have drawn more interest universally.

I’ve pondered the ending, read comments regarding the ending, and I still can’t make Lost make sense. I feel totally betrayed by the producers. I saw some post that said the Lost finale should be up for an Emmy. I think NOT! All that time I invested in the series over all those years. . . what a waste.

I too have watched for 6 years and while I admit there are some minor plot points that were not resolved, the overall story seemed quite clear and simple. Everyone crashed on the island on flight 815, and for 5 seasons you learned about their lives both on and off island. That was ALL REAL. In this season, you saw how the island lives played out, while at the same time seeing where they all ended up in the afterlife. In the beginning Jack said “If we can’t live together, we will die alone”. That is it. They all lived together on the island and learned about life in all the ways they never could off island. And when they died, they waited for each other so they could all move on together in the afterlife. I can certainly see how some people may not like the ending, that is going to be a given because you can’t satisfy everyone. I think the Seinfeld finale was probably the worst Seinfeld show ever. But to say you can’t follow it means you either did not watch it or you did not really tune in for the 6 years. If you spent that much time with the show and could not make heads or tails, that is more confusing than LOST.